WADSWORTH, Ohio — Jeff Lindsey is concerned about the safety of his three granddaughters who live on Trease Road in Wadsworth after the residential route became a major detour for an ongoing construction project.
Lindsey and other parents are worried about a large number of cars and trucks, that they say aren't obeying the 25 mph speed limit on Trease Road. The Ohio Department of Transportation is installing a new roundabout at the intersection of Route 57 and Seville Road over the next 90 days, detouring cars on Trease Road and trucks onto State Road, but Lindsey said too often, trucks aren't following the proper detour.
“It’s extremely dangerous for kids, I mean even with just the cars it’s dangerous," Lindsey said. “This is unsettling to a lot of these folks. Every house that I stopped at, they’re annoyed that the trucks are flying up and down here, cars are flying up and down here.
“These people all have kids and these houses aren’t that far from the street, and I’ve already warned them the first time, some little kid gets hurt or killed up here, everybody is going to know who is responsible and who’s heard about it.
“I’ve talked to the city safety engineer, he said it’s all ODOT, and I talked to ODOT and he said it’s all the safety engineer and the City of Wadsworth. Who do you talk to?"
Lindsey said he is pleased Wadsworth Police has stepped up speed enforcement in the neighborhood in response to resident complaints.
Evens St. Preuv also lives on Trease Road and is concerned about the safety of his 9-year-old daughter. St. Preuv believes ODOT needs to add more clearly marked detour signs to keep all heavy trucks out of his residential neighborhood.
“I asked her to play in the backyard; I don’t trust the traffic here," St. Preuv said. “I'm very scared when I see the trucks going down this road because we’re not used to that. It’s very dangerous, because there’s usually not a lot of traffic on this road. They’re always racing down this road.”
News 5 contacted Robert Patrick, Wadsworth Director of Public Service on July 15, and he responded immediately. The city installed five additional 25 mph speed limit signs along Trease Road, and will take additional safety steps in the coming days.
“We have installed additional signage out there," Patrick said. “We want trucks to know this isn’t the appropriate detour. We requested ODOT install some additional signs and move some signs to make sure that the truck route is clear.”
"We’re going to put out something additional on social media to get folks to understand the detour routes and the speed in this area."
ODOT District 3 offices also quickly responded to our story and issued the following statement:
“Safety is always our top priority. To address the city and residents’ concerns, we revised some of the detour signs and will be installing additional signage to more clearly differentiate a truck and passenger vehicle detour. It is important that drivers follow the signage in order to keep everyone safe.”
Meanwhile, some Wadsworth residents like Lindsey are hoping the City of Wadsworth and ODOT will re-evaluate the situation and find another detour route for car traffic that is away from their residential area.
“It’s real dangerous, these kids — you're watching them playing out in the front yard, you know most of them can’t,” Lindsey said. “I’d like to see some paperwork and some studies on this that said this was a wise choice.”
